Apparatus for drying coated tape



Oct. 15, 1968 s. ANGER APPARATUS FOR DRYING COATED TAPE 4 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 14. 1967 V1 E w f ik 0 e nA/ W h www; V HS H l .T

Oct. 15, 1968 s. ANGER 3,405,879

APPARATUS FOR DRYING COATED TAPE 4 Sheets-KS 2 Filed March 14, 1967 Oct. 15, 1968 s. ANGER APPARATUS FOR DRYING COATED TAPE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 14, 1967 Oct. 15, 1968 s. ANGER 3,405,879

APPARATUS FOR DRYING COATED TAPE Filed March 14, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent Oce 3,405,879 Patented Oct. 15, 1968 10 Claims. icl. 242-55) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for drying tape coated, e.g. with pressuresensitive adhesive, the apparatus including a drying wheel having two groups of spaced apart radial arms between which axially extending spacer bars are built up as the tape is wound on, to space apart successive turns of tape. The bars are fed from a magazine as the wheel rotates and fall under gravity towards the centre of the wheel, the tape thereafter holding them in place. As the tape is unwound, the bars are removed by an extractor and are returned to the magazine for subsequent use.

The present invention relates to apparatus for drying coated tapes, in particular tapes coated with a pressuresensitive adhesive coating. In order to dry tapes of this kind, it is already known to use rotary dryers on which the tape is wound in a series of radially spaced turns.

Conventionally, dryers of this type consist of two groups of radial arms which are fixed on axially spaced hubs keyed on a shaft, a drum being formed between the said hubs at the inner end of the arms. The radial arms thus disposed in pairs are formed with apertures which are designed to receive the ends of axially extending spacer bars which are placed in position as the arms rotate, the bars serving to space radially apart successive turns of the tape, by the radial distance between adjacent bars on a given pair of arms.

When the tape is dry it is wound on a reel and the two groups of arms rotate together in the opposite direction from when the tape was wound on, and, as it is thus rotated, the spacer bars are removed successively from their associated pairs of arms as soon as the tape has left them.

It will be apparent that a process of this kind necessitates considerable skill on the part of the operator in order to position and remove the spacer bars. Moreover, the speed of winding and unwinding is limited by the working rhythm of the operator, and the linear velocity of the tape will vary, so that the tension of the tape will also vary, and this may be detrimental to the quality of the finished product.

Furthermore, during the winding on the wheel of the coated tape, vapours are evolved which may be harmful, so that it becomes necessary for the operator to wear a respiratory mask and to subject himself to a regular medical check-up.

With an arrangement of this kind, when the groups of arms rotate to receive the tape, each pair of arms travelling adjacent the outlet of the magazine will receive a spacer bar which is immediately and automatically transferred from its waiting position to a position within the arms in which it rolls under the force of gravity either as tar as the hub at the commencement of operations or on to a further previously-engaged bar.

It will be appreciated that the winding of the tape on the wheel thus formed is elected without any manual operation, since the spacer bars are automatically engaged one by one in the radial arms as the wheel rotation proceeds.

For the unwinding of the tape, once the coating has dried, the wheel is driven in the direction `opposite to that of the preceding rotation, for example by means of the winding-up reel of the tape.

The invention will become more fully understood from the following description, given purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows, diagrammatically and in perspective,

one embodiment of the device according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the said device;

FIGURE 3 shows in perspective, a fragmentary view drawn to a larger scale, of the outlet of the magazine bars;

FIGURE 4 is a View showing, in greater detail, how a pair of arms are tted on a wheel; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-section through the said arm along the line V-V of FIGURE 4.

The embodiment of apparatus illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, comprises a drying wheel 5 keyed on a shaft 6 adapted to be driven in rotation by means (not shown), a magazine 7 providing a downwardly inclined travel path for the spacer bars 8 travelling towards the wheel 5 and also a re-cycling assembly 9 comprising a re-entry ramp 10 and a raising ramp 11 ending at the upper portion of the magazine.

The drying wheel consists of two groups of arms 12 and 13, which are radially xed on appropriately spaced hubs 14, keyed on the shaft 6 of the wheel. Each group of arms comprises, in the example illustrated, eight arms extending in a vertical plane, adjacent arms being at 45 with respect to one another. The two groups of arms are connected near their inner ends by means of cross-pieces 15 extending parallel to the wheel pivot. The cross-pieces provide satisfactory rigidity of the assembly and also -form a drum 16 which receives the terminal portion of the tape 17 coming from a reel 18, at which position it has not yet been coated, the coating being effected between the reel and the drying wheel.

As is clearly shown in FIGURE 5, the arms consist of channel elements 20 of U-shaped cross-section, the open sides of the elements of a pair, facing one another and being positioned opposite one another. Within elements 20 are located rails 21 of substantially similar section, the limbs 22, 23 however, having inwardly bent portions 24.

It should be noted that, at their inner ends the rails 21 terminate adjacent the cross-pieces 15, Whereas the outer ends of the rails terminate at the same level as the elements 20. At their free end portions, the arms are provided with hooks 25 the purpose of which will be described later.

As is most clearly shown in FIGURES 3 to 5, spacer bars 8 are provided at their respective ends with rollers 26, the diameter of which determines the spacing of the bars on a given one of the arms of the wheel. Of course, the diameter of the rollers 26 is slightly smaller than the spacing between the limbs 22 and 23 of the channel section rails 21.

The ends of the arms travel in the outlet 27 of the magazine 7, which consists of two metal sections 30, 31, which are appropriately braced and the spacing of which is equal to the length of the bars. The sections 30, 31 are shaped in such manner as to form a downwardly inclined zig-zag path the length of which is sufcient to accommodate at least the total number of bars necessary for equipping the Wheel.

With' this arrangement, the bars are able to travel from the upper portion 32 of the magazine under the influence of gravity, towards the outlet 27 which is disposed in the same horizontal plane as the shaft of the wheel and is provided, at the end of each of the sections 30, 31, with hooks 34, 35. These serve to stop the bars from continuously falling out of the magazine and permit the extraction from the magazine of a bar inthe waiting position. At a predetermined distance from the magazine outlet there are provided stop pegs 36, 37 adapted to move between a withdrawn position and an operating position wherein they prevent the travel of the bars towards the waiting position.

Disposed below the magazine outlet is the extractor means or re-entry ramp the structure of which is similar to that of the magazine, i.e. it comprises two appropriately cross-braced sections 39, 40. The re-entry ramp is, at its free end portion, provided with hooks 41, 42 similar to the previously mentioned hooks and, furthermore, it is inclined downwardly relatively to the horizontal from the drying wheel. The lower portion of the re-entry ramp 10 is followed by the raising ramp 11 which is formed from sections 44 and 45. Adjacent ramp 11 is the upwardly moving run of an endless belt 46, comprising projecting members, for example studs 47. The upper portion of the belt coincides with the upper portion of the magazine 7.

Two retaining straps 48, 49, extending into the wheel, in the immediate vicinity of the arms, are secured at 50 under the re-entry ramp; they pass over a roller 51 disposed above the wheel near their other ends, and are subjected to the action of counterweights 52 which maintain them constantly under tension.

In operation of the apparatus of the invention, the tape 17 (FIGURE 2) is first of all attached to one of the cross-pieces 15. The stop pegs 36, 37 are then withdrawn and the bars 8 slide down in the magazine 7. With one of the bars waiting at the outlet of the magazine, in the hooks 34, 35, the wheel is rotated in the direction of the arrow F, causing winding-up of the tape. When the arms pass in front of the outlet 27 of the magazine, the hooks 25 at the ends of the arms engage the bar 8 carried by hooks 34, 35 and this bar is thus transferred on to a pair of arms. As the wheel continues to rotate and the associated arm moves from the position A to the position B, the bar slides in the rails 21 and rolls, due to the force of gravity, towards the centre of the wheel, until it engages the hub or a preceding bar. As the arm moves from the position B to the position C the bars are held in position, by gravity, but as they move between the position C and the position D, the arms are downwardly orientated and the bars tend to be rolled out of the arms under gravity. However, the bars are held in place by the straps 48, 49 until they reach the position D, whereafter the tension in the tape 17 will maintain the bars 8 in place.

The winding-on of the tape onto the wheel, in spaced turns, thus continues, each pair of bars being automatically fed. When the winding-on is completed, the pegs 36, 37 are actuated and thus prevent the advance of further bars. The pins 36, 37 are raised in such a way that the last bar in the waiting position on hooks 34, 35 which has been engaged by a pair of arms, is ush with the end of the film. Due to this arrangement, no further bar remains between the arresting means and the outlet of the magazine 27, when the tape 17 is completely wound on the wheel.

When the coating covering the whole or a part of the faces of the tape is dry, the operator starts unwinding the tape and re-winding thereof on a reel core. During this operation, the pins 36, 37 are maintained in their operative raised position, whilst the wheel is driven in the direction of the arrow F1 by the tape, the winding-on reel core of which is rotated in the direction of the arrow F2.

During this unwinding, in the vicinity of the position D, the spacer bars are no longer maintained in position by the tape and tend to fall under the influence of gravity towards the ends of the arms, but they are maintained in position by the straps 48, 49 until they reach the position C.

Betweenthis position and the position A, the free bars are maintained in their position by the'force 'of gravity;'

beyond this point, they roll down in the rails as far as the end of the arms where they are retained by the hooks 25 and thus reach the position Eswhere they engage the hooks 41, 42 of the re-entry ramp 10 and are retained by the latter. VFrom this point on, the bars descend under the force of gravity as far as the foot'of` the ramp 10 where they are taken up by the studs 47 on the re-cycling assembly which delivers them to the upper portion of the magazine 7, in which they travel under gravity until they engage the pegs 36, 37 or a preceding bar.

The cycle is then completed and the device is ready to carry out a new tape-drying operation. It will readily be understood that the onlymanual operation involved is securing the end of the tape 17 to a cross-piece 15 and switching on and subsequent reversing of the drive.

If desired, instead of providing the straps 48, 49 to retain the bars in place, thetape 17 may be guided so that it is fed to, or withdrawn from the wheel' between the positions B and C. This may be effected by means of suitable guide rolls or by repositioning of the reel 18 at a higher level. The tape itself will then hold the bars in place.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for drying coated tape, such apparatus comprising an axis; two axially spaced groups of radially extending arms, said groups being rotatable about said axis; radially extending guides on each of said arms; a plurality of spacer bars of a length to engage in one guide of each group of arms; a magazine for containing and feeding said bars; an outlet to said magazine positioned to feed spaced bars from said magazine to the radially outer ends of said arms, as the groups of arms rotate in a first direction, extractor means for removing spacer bars from the guides as the groups rotate in the direction opposite to said first direction and means for returning the bars from the extractor means to the magazine.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the spacer bars are provided at each end with a roller. mounted for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the associated roller bar.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 2, wherein the guides comprise channel-section rail members, the legs of which are spaced apart by the diameter of said rollers.

4. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein each arm is provided with a hook at its radially outer end, said hooks extending in said first direction of rotation.

v5. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein said magazine comprises a pair of channel-section rails spaced apart by the same distance as said groups of arms, said rails being disposed in a zig-zag configuration and sloping downwardly towards said magazine outlet.

6. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein said magazine outlet is provided with upwardly directed hooks, positioned to retain a spacer bar at a location in which it may be engaged by the upwardly moving radially outer end `of an arm, as the guides rotate in said first direction.

7. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein said extractor means includes a pair of downwardly inclinedchannel-section rail members; an upper and a lower end to said rail members positioned in the path of movement of the radially outer ends of said arms, in that lower quadrant of said path of movement in which the arms are moving downwardly as the groups are rotated in said opposite direction.

8. The 4apparatus defined in claim 7, in which the upper end of said rail members of said extractor means are provided with upwardly directed hooks.

9. The apparatus defined in claim 7, in which the means for returning the spacer bars to the magazine comprise a connecting pair of channel section rail members, extending from the lower end of the extractor members to the magazine, a driven conveyor belt adjacent said connecting rail members and a set of spaced apart pins extending from said belt between said connecting rail members to engage and transport spacer bars from said lower end to said magazine.

10. The apparatus dened in claim 1, in which a pair of strap means extend substantially tangentially to that lower quadrant of the pair of groups of arms in which the arms are moving downwardly as the groups are rotated in said first direction, said straps serving to retain said bars in said guide rails in such quadrant.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/ 1927 Richardson et al 242-55 4/ 1931 Walker 242-55 FRANK I. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

N. L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner. 

